CNY 2012
 

Upcoming Chinese New Year January 23.

Block out domestic travel/tourism for at minimum 4 weeks
January 9 - February 6.

This will undoubtably be the biggest migration in the history of
the world > 2 billion travel segments.

The HSR and airlines are already close to exceeding capacity,
with the appreciation of the yuan and trickle down effect,
domestic transportation/tourist spots will be beyond
charted expectations.

Bottom line: If you are going to China during this time, park yourself
at a 5 star property (with earplugs) and don't plan on going much past the city limits.

CNY BEIJING - WAR ZONE

Or, if not there already stay away. If there, consider a trip just outside of China.

In which direction?
Vietnam new year is on the same date (timezone will next cause 1 day difference in 2030).

South, for sure. Even during these vacation weeks, I never see a ton of Chinese tourists in SE Asia. Sanya is more to their liking, (and it will be VERY crowded).

That means Laos, Burma, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan, right?

Definitely, but also countries that Chinese are slightly more fond of, even Singapore. Did you ever notice that western tourists far outnumber Asian tourists in many resort areas throughout SE Asia? Well, as previously noted, the Chinese have Sanya... full stop. Meanwhile, for Japanese and Koreans, Hawaii is a much bigger carrot than Koh Sumaui. Sadly, there is a touch of racism at play in all 3 cases.

Guam?

UA/CO CNY flights China-Guam

China is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for leisure travel and United continues to promote Guam as a beautiful and attractive beach destination to Chinese travelers.


Shanghai – Guam - Shanghai

16 January – 20 January, 2012
20 January – 24 January, 2012
24 January – 28 January, 2012
28 January – 2 February, 2012

Beijing – Guam - Beijing

18 January – 23 January, 2012
23 January – 28 January, 2012
28 January – 2 February, 2012
Hangzhou – Guam- Hangzhou

21 January – 25 January, 2012
25 January – 29 January, 2012

Dalian – Guam - Dalian

23 January – 27 January, 2012

Thailand (Bangkok) and Phuket have TONS of mainland Chinese tourists every CNY. If you want to get away from them, head for Indonesia--they really aren't big on that place at all. :D

I may be stuck here for the holiday. Trying to find an escape route (south, definitely!) but few cost-effective options are left. :(

+1
 

More like 5 weeks till mid feb....

5 weeks of the world's factory shut down. Send the orders over here...
we need work.:(

Foxconn never sleeps.

Dongguan factories used to get away with paying no overtime and if a worker
left for CNY they knew there would be no job for them when they returned.
That ended about 5 years ago.


So they say:


According to the latest info from Taiwan’s analyst, Foxconn has arranged its iPad department to have only five days off during the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, in order to meet the market demand of the iPad 3’s announcement in February. The Chinese new year will start on January 23, 2012, and Foxconn offers nine days off for the workers in other departments

Foxcom may be an exception to the rule.

Production is already starting to ramp down and workers are already started to leave early in the hopes of missing the crazy migration.

The big worry for many factories is the uncertainty of the workers coming back after CNY. Even if factories are technically open in early February, they are not in any way close to working in full production.

I'm all over this because I figure the lion's share of the seats will be below cost wrapped in packages. The problem is I have no clue where to book. I tried calling UA to point me in the right direction, but it appears they are no longer reachable by phone. I will keep digging.

UA/CO acts as a charter carrier.

Try GVB China for info:

Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) China Representative
Room 707, Kerry Center, 1515 West Nan Jing Rd, Shanghai 200040, PRC
Tel.：8621 6289 7733 Ext.：107 Fax：8621 6289 7722 Email：[email protected]

Especially when they are handed a red envelope with enough cash to
live off of for long enough to find a better job.:D

The away direction. I went to Niseko last year, glad I did. :)

where to go?
 

Hi, all. I'm bumping this thread because I'm now starting to get more serious about escaping from China on January 23 (new year's day); I do want to see the festivities on the night of the 22nd because I've never witnessed a Dragon CNY before.

The $64,000 question is where to go. I have 3 criteria: 1) warmer than Beijing; 2) some place that doesn't celebrate CNY; and 3) as cheap as possible. Regarding #3, I'm thinking of a $1,200 budget.

I have lots of miles that I could use for the ticket, but I'll probably end up just using cash. I've been monitoring fares from PEK to pretty much all of SE Asia (haven't checked Air Asia out of TSN yet), and KUL is the cheapest I've found thus far ($700 RT). I'm also willing to try to one way and come back over land, as far as Nanning, but I'm not so sure what visas I would need (VN only?) and where I should get them.

This is the year of the BIG dragon, the real one. next year is the year of the snake, or 'little' dragon. In 2013, the CNY is on feb. 10th, or after the feb. 3rd super bowl in new orleans in 2013....

So 2012 is a get warm year....

Oh, BTW, the NFC conference championship game will be on at 7:30 am on the morning of the 23rd. & i am on UA 888 at 1:40 pm that day !.

See if you can find some way to get to Thailand? Koh Samet or Koh Chang are wonderful and easily reachable from BKK. Overland trip sounds tough in my opinion- may be very interesting but I would anticipate a LOT of time. I think you could go from Thailand into Cambodia (Visa available at the border near Koh Kong) then go to the south of Cambodia near Kep (can get a visa in 24 hours express one entry to VN) then go to Vietnam without a problem. A long trip though very beautiful and interesting.

BKK is the cheapest option now, at $583. I've been to both of the places you mentioned, and would like to return to Ko Chang. What's more, I know I can pull off the land portion for less than $600, so this is a possibility. REP also pencils @ $800. DPS and VTE are out of the running, at this stage. HAN is also on the radar (@800), but my friend there tells me it's cold (I have a hard time believing this, but she is there and lives in BJ, so she understands what "cold" means).

Hanoi can be quite cold at this time of year with temperatures around 15C which is still much warmer than Beijing however hardly warm and I have seen snow once in Hanoi which makes it very cold indeed.

Ko Chang is very nice- I like the hotel Dewa which can usually be found for excellent prices at agoda.

The land portion can be less than $600 I am sure. Factor in $25 for the Visa to enter Cambodia plus IIRC $60 for the same day service for VN visa. The only open part would be to understand any restrictions VN to CN entering overland, however I cannot think of any (just something to check- the train a few years ago was a bit bureaucratic however those days are probably long past now).

If I read the posts correctly, someone suggested Vietnam during Chinese New Year. They celebrate TET the same time. From my correspondence with a Hanoi agency, Hanoi is dead quiet beginning New Years Eve onward. Try to find a restaurant - nope, they shut down the day prior to New Years Eve and are closed for 8 to 10 days. Same with foot massage places. Same with attractions. Folks don't want to do any work during the first few days of Tet. They believe how they begin the new year is how they will spend the year, and they want it filled with more agreeable activities.

In the current context, "land" means getting from Bangkok to Ko Chang and back, and perhaps slipping into Cambodia.

If we had a "least favorite flights" thread, UA 888 would win my vote. I've done it many times in all three classes, and have learned to dread it. I actually like the crews in the human sense (they stay at the Ren, and are great story tellers), but I must confess that they aren't in the same league as their peers at Air China (I am serious). All that having been said, you'll be in good shape to unwind after you arrive in Mexico.

By land, since Vietnam celebrates New Year, the southeastern neighbours of China are Laos and Burma.

How easy is a land crossing to Laos?

$25. It's the trains that give me pause.

moondog, using cash for a ticket during CNY, oh the crime!!! :p Just think of all the new CC offers 2012 will bring!

Since you said warmer, why not head to Taiwan and check out the east coast via train, or SE asia?

Since when does Taiwan not celebrate CNY?

Can you get to Hong Kong on an award ticket? If so, Cebu have some return flights to Manila for just over 300 USD return. It wouldn't be my first choice SE Asia destination - but at least it does the job in terms of weather (and no visa needed for short stays for many passport holders).

Should not be a problem. I have used both the Bangkok Airways fly to Trat option combined with a speedboat to Ko Chang and a car and driver. Car and Driver is more or less the same amount of time (perhaps 45 minutes more) when factoring in the arrive at airport/check in/security/boarding/queue at BKK to take off/arrival at Trat/get luggage/get driver to pier/get speedboat/arrive at Ko Chang.

I like the car option as it is a bit more relaxing. Costs total around 3800 THB (or less depending on the car you want) including ferry.

Given CNY I doubt he can even get a paid ticket to Hong Kong.

PEK-MNL actually isn't all that expensive, but the Phils are not on my list. Believe it or not, award availability is pretty good to HK and beyond on CX/KA, but at an absurdly high cost in miles. I've been research *A options (15k BD miles each way, including whatever stopovers I might be able to sneak in). TG is good to BKK, and presumably beyond, though I only checked KUL (yes) and BKI (no).

Regarding Ko Chang, I've done both the plane and the private car option, and found the latter to be a better value.

If you have any avios, they are good value for short, direct hops (e.g. to HKG -- 10k each way). However, you need to pay YQ, so not that great value.

tb

10k will get you to Hong Kong, but those onward flights from HK cost an additional 10k. At to this that the 23rd is only available in business class, and we're up to 40k one way. Those same 40k could get me to Finland in business class, and up until November 15, 50k was enough to swing JFK to CKG in business class with up to a year to stop over in HKG, NRT, and/or YVR.

Very true. The old US/Asia redemption rates are now gone...so no point dwelling on that. Agree that going beyond HKG is not good value, but it would get you to HKG with few miles, and from there, perhaps a cheap cash ticket?

However, Avios are really only good value now for short hop one segment redemptions. I haven't figured out the YQ for JL, but am interested in a short trip to NRT later this year (15k return in Y)...pretty excellent value, I would say if YQ doesn't spoil the party.

tb

Saturday the trek to Nanjing like every year since 2007. On occasion I've arrived at NKG on New Years eve but never missed this short tradition. And this with no Chinese roots or cultural affinity. ;)

Small talk, eating, baijiu, watching the Beijing spectacle on telly, halting attempts at mahjong against the assembled pros and of course the inevitable fireworks at any time of day.

Oh, and the only cigarettes I smoke every year...

Thailand for me....been planning this for a long time so the redemption rates weren't an issue.

spring festival-CNY
 

watching CCTV this am, they said 3 billion journeys over 40 days..

BJ is already changed. The am street food vendors are gone now.
BJ car traffic is down, the subway is still busy with several people with travel bags.

And for the last 3 evenings in BJ, a few people are prematurely practicing their fireworks. Grrr. I am so looking forward to being stuck here....NOT. But even worse is being stuck in the throng of travelers.

Did we ever hear where moondog is going to be ending up?